More BFT's on the dock- we had 3 brought into the OIFC today. 1 was 78 inches, 1 was 80 inches and 1 was 65 inches. There seemed to be a good number of fish hooked today, mostly in the 60-70 inch range. The bites that occurred were between the Shark Hole and the Knuckle buoy.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Hot bite going on all along west side of Frying Pan Shoals from Lighthouse Rocks on out. 20 boats fishing, at least 10 fish caught and others lost.They're feeding on pogies piled up along the shoals. Bite also at Shark Hole.
All you inlanders, take the winter cover off your boat and get down here. This is a historic event occuring in our Ocean Isle waters, truely a once in lifetime opportunity to catch a monster right here in your own backyard. Weather looks good thru weekend.
-
Rube McMullan

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

I hung at the dock today as I worked at the OIFC to get my wheels back on after vacation. However, many fishermen were on the water after BFT's and they had relatively good luck. Dale McDowell, Jason James and Hector Mendez brought in the first and only BFT to the OIFC- a nice 78 inch BFT that is boxed up and will be headed to market. For their catch, they have won the weekly $500 Bounty sponsored by Sloane Realty, Resort Brokerage and Consulting, Cooke Realty, Ocean Isle Beach Realty and Williamson Realty. Thanks to sponsors and congratulations to Dale and crew. They were fishing aboard their 23 center console Dalee at Lighthouse Rocks when the fish bit the downrigger. My estimate is there were around 6 fish caught to sell today and at least that many released that were under the 73 inch mark. Bites occured at the Knuckle buoy, Shark Hole, 15 mile rocks and the Lighthouse Rocks. Stay tuned for more.....

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

I've dreamt it a hundred times and yesterday it played out just as I had envisioned. Barrett and I left the OIFC aboard the Carolina Contender at 5:30am and headed offshore to the Shark Hole-- we had high hopes for Bluefin Tuna as I had landed an 84 incher there the day before and several other boats had bites. We set out and lulled into a daze when at 8am the long top line went to screaming. Barrett and I worked in tandem and within 20 minutes a 76 inch Bluefin tuna had been subdued. At this point we were excited at the prospect for the rest of the morning- it was early and we were the only boat out there. We reset and just knew they would bite- but they didn't. We worked the Shark Hole area til 10am and then decided to go looking. I pointed the bow to the West toward the 70' Hole. We reached the hole by 11am and marked some good bait and there were birds, but no bites. We decided we'd work to the North across the 65' hole area and then pick up and leave.-- still pleased with our catch. At 11:30am Barrett starting bringing in the long line and I the downrigger when the other downrigger rod bent over and we were back on. Again we played through our steps and 20 minutes later a second Bluefin- 80 inches- would come aboard the Carolina Contender. We were both shocked and excited and knew we had done something great. Of course, the limit being 3/day, we had to set back out again- vowing to only go for an hour. I was cleaning the second fish on the deck of the boat when again the downrigger bait went off. We looked at each other in disbelief- 2 fish in less than an hour. I called back to land to my cousin Brian Aycock who jumped aboard the It Works with a couple of rods and rigs and headed out to us to give it a shot-- you don't get an opportunity like this very often. Barrett and I did battle and this time we applied some pressure and I had the fish on the leader in 25 minutes. I muscled him up and Barrett hit him with the gaff, which this fish was not willing to accept as the end. The fish rolled straight up and put it in high gear, throwing Barrett to the rail- the first grip on the gaff slid up the gaff and luckily hung on the second grip. The tuna turned under the boat and put a serious "offset" in the big gaff, but Barret hung on until I finally got the lip gaff in. A third and final fish for the Carolina Contender- another nice 80 inch Bluefin and much fatter than the other two. Meanwhile, as we were doing battle, Brian had set out and believe it or not, he hooked up too, in only a few minutes. Barrett and I got the 80 incher on board then I pulled over the It Works where Barrett jumped across to help Brian with his fish. 30 minutes later after an intense battle, they boated a super nice 90 inch Bluefin-- Can you believe it!!! By this time it was 2:30, the wind and seas were bigging big (5-7 foot) and we were slap wore out. I plugged in Shallotte inlet and it was 17 miles away-- that is what I have been waiting for for over 10 years-- A world-class fishery right here in our back yard-- Not Morehead, not even Southport-- IT IS HERE! All Bluefin were caught on Horse Ballyhoo using either crystal colored skirts or pink colored skirts.Anyway, my dream has been fulfilled and I'm very excited with the prospects for January. Fortunately for us (I think) we didn't hook any of the super giants yesterday, but you've read the reports-- You might hook a 65 incher or you might hook a 110 incher, you just don't know. By the way, I think it was reported but Brian Strickland and Bill Andrews brought in a 65 inch Bluefin to the OIFC on Tuesday to collect the "Bluefin Bounty"-- the Bounty will again start over on next Monday- thanks to sponsors of this $500 prize for the first Bluefin of the week to the OIFC- Sloane Realty, Resort Property Management, Cooke Realty, Ocean Isle Beach Realty and Williamson Realty-- If you are planning to visit Ocean Isle to try this fishery, these companies are ready with open arms.So, that's my story, believe it or not. These fish were caught on Dec 22nd- my birthday- and a fine gift it was and further proof that you just don't know. These fish are on the move, but they are following bait. Find the bait and you may well be near the fish. By the way, the Bluefin were full of Grey Trout. That means all your Grey Trout holes are prime time. Lighthouse Rocks, 15 mile rocks, 390/390 and even closer inshore- we were fishing 59 degree water.Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I'll be off the water for a few days recouperating and working on a new dream to fulfill- although I've got to say my appetite has been satisfied. What a day!Also, not to leave Capt. Roger, Capt. Jon and Capt. Lyndon out-- they were covering the Morehead City scene on the ShowTime and landed an 78 incher- thus the fish are scattered up and down the coast-- you just got to get lucky!

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Congradulations to Capt. Lyndon on his first Giant Bluefin Tuna. The 77" fish was caught out of Morehead City on 12/21 while fishing with Capt Roger and me. The bite didn't happen up there today & the weather is getting bad, so I guess we'll have a couple lay days just in time for the holiday festivities. Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Stephen and Michelle Hunter of Asheville sent me this picture of last Sunday's 850 pound, state record bluefin tuna. A big fish, no doubt, but the one Barrett hooked and broke off the same day down here would have eaten it like a sardine. All I want for Christmas is a custom OIFC bluefin stand-up combo. Happy holidays, everyone.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Bluefin on the OIFC docks- boated an 84 incher this AM while trolling near the Shark Hole. There were a few other bites scattered between there and the Knuckle buoy. Weather looks tough for a few days and then holidays, but we'll be back at'em after the holidays. I think the fishing is going to get cranked up for the Bluefin, so be sure to stop by to get geared up. I've got in a new shipment of Bluewater Candy heads- Crystal, Pink and other hot colors-- horse ballyhoo, harnesess, gaffs, our custom rods (which are really doing great for many fishermen) and much more. Have a happy holiday and good luck for the New Year.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

OK folks- touching base. I've been pretty hard at the fishing now for the past week or so-- all this pretty weather is too hard to pass up on. Early in the week we would tuna fish in the AM and then head off to King or Grouper fish. We smoked the Kings a mile or so off the Tower one day including many nice fish over 25 pounds. Pictured below is Capt. Lyndon with an estimated 38 pounder he caught and released. We jigged bait at the Tower and then moved off a bit and caught the Kings 4 at a time. It was a good time and nice to hear a reel go off after trolling countless hours waiting for that one big Bluefin bite. The next day Capt. Barrett and I decided to do a bit of R&D as we again jigged bait at the Tower and headed offshore to 200-250 feet where we anchored and bottom fished around the Black Jack hole area. We had a decent catch of Grouper, Triggerfish and lots of AJ's. It's a fishery worth further exploration, but electric reels are a must. Then I headed out for a Bluefin excursion to Morehead to fish the ShowTime while Barrett and Roger held down the Ocean Isle side. We fished Tuesday and hooked up at 8am on the long top line- crystal colored head on ballyhoo. The fish smoked off a couple hundred yards as Henry Gales and Ricky Danford cleared lines. I backed the boat hard to the fish while Ricky collected line and within 5 minutes we were on top of the fish. We then suited Ricky up in his Braid harness and he went to work hoisting the Bluefin into submission. Within 10 minutes of Ricky hoisting and me circling the fish, the leader cleared the water. I grabbed the leader and brough the fish to boatside where Henry laid the steel and the deal was done. I have to say, it was a bit melodramatic. Either we're getting good, this fish was wimpy, Ricky was super tough or a combination of all-- Also, I had visions of 100 inch monsters and this fish didn't quite live up to it. Anyway, the fish measured 84 inches and dressed out at 285 pounds, which is 80% of total weight of fish. We reset lines, but did not get another Bluefin bite. And now I'm back at OIB in the OIFC looking at a pile of paperwork and the such that I so don't want to get in to. I've got a charter tomorrow for Bluefin out of OIB on the MacMarle'n, so I'll report on how that goes. Stay tuned for more and have a happy holiday.-- Capt. Brant

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

I just got off the phone with Bryan Strickland of Guy C. Lee and he has captured an estimated 200-250lb bluefin tuna. He will be at the OIFC docks around 2:30 to collect this week's bounty. I'll report more details and pics as they come in.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of joining my good friend Lee Frick, Mike Edge, and my brother aboard Lee's 35' Triton the "Frick'n Fishin'". The plan was to go bluefin fishing for a couple hours then head off to a grouper hole or two and finish up the day with king mackerel. With several boats heading out for the giants, we all decided to spread out with our starting hole being the Raritan. That morning I had noticed a 3 degree temperature break as well as a color change on the satellite shot right on top of the wreck and I thought it was the best place to set up shop. Lines in at 7:15, but the signs did not look nearly as good as expected around the wreck. At 8:00, Capt. Barrett comes across the radio "Boys, I'm tight, I'm tight! Got him on!!" Fifteen minutes later, he came back across the radio and told me that he was by himself and may need some help as he thought this was a nice fish. Without thinking twice, our rigs were out of the water and we were running 48 knots over to him to help out. When we arrived, it was a sight unlike anything I have ever seen before. Capt. Barrett was on the bow of the "It Works" strapped in to the harness and was literally being TOWED by this fish! (The boat was making a wake as he was being pulled so fast!) With thoughts of "The Old Man and the Sea" in our minds, myself and my brother boarded the "It Works" and started to come up with a gameplan. I'm sure you all have read Capt. Barrett's account of what happened next so I won't reiterate the details. (If you haven't read it, check out the report from Dec. 17 entitled "GIANTS".) I will say this though; although I have not caught nearly as many of these fish as Barrett, I have caught a few and this fish was in a totally different class from any other fish I have caught as well. Words cannot describe the strength of this fish. With all the pressure two people could physically put on the fish, we could not stop him. He towed the boat around, he towed the boat sideways. When he ran, I watched the fiberglass around the rod holder bend and flex from the immense pressure. And we the line parted after two hours, the only words that were spoken were "Well, there he goes." I would have not imagined a fish of this size in our waters but this is definitely proof that they are here. Now we just need one caught and brought to the docks!

After having our hearts, spirits, and bodies broken by this fish, Mike, my brother Travis, and myself all reboarded the "Frick'n Fishin'" and headed off to try to find some grouper. We stopped at a ledge in about 95 feet of water and jigged up some real nice cigar minnows and greenies. While we were jigging, I dropped a grouper rig to the bottom with no success. So with a livewell full of bait, we moved out to 105' and tried again. Once again, we drew a blank.

With the only grouper reports on the radio being those from the scuba divers shooting them, we slid over to the Tower and took part in a first class kingfish bite. From the time we dropped the first cigar minnow in the water, it was on! We caught fish constantly for two solid hours and even tried out some ultra light gear to have some fun. Lee was the first to venture out on the limb as he rigged his brand new 9wt fly rod up and drifted a live cigar minnow back into the prop wash. Since the rod wouldn't fit in a holder, he had to sit on the back of the boat holding the rod, watching for the explosion which was destined to occur. He didn't have to wait long as the first fish boiled on the bait no more than 2 minutes after putting it back. The fish missed and another bait went out. Another strike immediatey but this fish pulled the hooks within seconds. Third time is the charm, right? Third minnow went back and another fish boiled on the bait. He missed it but came right back after it and boiled again. By now we were all watching his bait and apparently the kingfish knew it as he skied on the bait coming right at us and nearly landed on the motors when he landed! So right away we knew Lee had a fish around 15-18lbs as he proceeded to melt the 9wt reel. Twenty minutes later, Lee had battled the fish to right under the boat. It was here when the unexpected happened. As he was lifting the rod to turn the fish's head----SNAP! His brand new rod was now in two pieces with the fish still attached. Five minutes later, however the fish was in the boat and Lee could now pose with his first king mackerel on the fly rod. After a few more fish, my brother got a wild hair and wanted to catch one on a spinning rod loaded only with 8lb mono. Same story----dropped a live cigar back and immediately it started screaming. Within 15 minutes, Travis had angled this 18lb. king to the boat on 8lb. line! We stayed there catching fish until sunset and ran back home on a slick calm ocean. Most of the kings we caught were between 12-18 lbs with the biggest coming two coming in at 26lbs and 31lbs.

Needless to say that from the epic battle with a bluefin, to an incredible kingfish bite, this was definitely a memorable day on the water. And at 75 degrees, bright sunny skies, and a slick calm ocean we had to pinch ourselves to realize that this was in fact Dec. 17.

I've attached some pictures here of our battle with Capt. Barrett's bluefin as well as more from the king mackerel afternoon bite. (There is also a video of Barrett and Mike fighting the bluefin from the rod holder that shows the unbelievable power of these fish so be sure to also check it out!) I doubt they will all fit at the bottom of this report so be sure to also check out the following report for more pictures! Tight lines and happy holidays!

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

It's been said that you learn something new everytime you're on the water. Today I learned there are creatures out there that just aren't meant to be caught. I'll give a brief recap of the happenings this morning aboard the It Works. I departed the Fishing Center at 5:30am on a solo mission with the intentions of fishing the morning and making it back in for lunch. After hearing of a double hookup first thing around 6:30am I was encouraged especially with all the porpoises and bait I was seeing. Sure enough at 7:30am my number finally got called for the first time this season. The top line went to screaming and I went to scrambling. I worked to clear the deck as quick as I could while the fish steady peeled line off my 30 Wide spooled with 130lb test. At strike I had 23lbs of drag. Once the deck was cleared I moved the rod to the midship rod holder and turned the boat towards the fish. At 5 knots I motored towards the fish regaining the line the fish had so easily melted off the reel. With all the braid now back on the reel I was onto the 130lb Momoi topshot and I jacked the drag to 35lbs and got into the harness. An hour into the battle it became readily apparent I was nothing more than a nat in the ear of this monster. It was like trying to kill a deer by throwing rocks. I called over the radio to the Frickin' Fishin' team with Capt. Lee, Capt. Squid, his brother and Capt. Mike to come assist as I was in a predicament. With a full crew now on the boat I torqued the drag up one last time to 48lbs- more than you can pull off with your hands. For the first part of the fight I angled from the bow of the boat and the fish was towing me at 3.5knots. Realizing this was not putting enough strain on the fish, when I turned the drag up to 48lbs I positioned the boat side ways to the fish and seas and angled from the midship rod holder. 48lbs of drag is too much for me to do stand up. Now side to, the fish was still able to drag the boat at 1.5knots into the waves sideways as the gunnels ducked down towards the surface with the immense pressure. In addition to the drag pressure I was holding the line with a pair of gloves and Mike had both hands on the spool and the fish kept going. We were probably in the neighborhood of 60-70lbs of drag pressure. Not once did the fish show any real sign of tiring. He always was moving away from the boat making ground. We were within about 50 feet of the fish when finally the 130lb topshot snapped after 2 hours of intense angling. We never got an eyeball on the monster but we all had a vision in our mind of what we were dealing with. I've been fishing the giants for about 8 years and have been fortunate enough to catch hundreds of these magnificent animals up to 600 lbs. The fish I hooked today was unlike any thing I had ever experienced. The strength and endurance was unbelievable and hard to convey. Never have I hooked a fish that I simply could not affect with the kind of pressure I was able to apply today. The other fish that were hooked today down here had a similar story as my ordeal. A long grueling fight but in the end the fish was the victor. This evening we learned the North Carolina state record for bluefin tuna was broken out of Morehead City. The record breaking fish was 111" and weighed 875lbs! The fish was caught on a 130 Wide and battled for 5 hours. In addition there was reportedly 9 fish caught over 100" today in Morehead. This gives you an idea of the class of fish we are dealing with. Since my heart breaking battle we have regrouped and beefed up our equipment in order to be ready for our next opportunity. My story is no exaggeration. There are some VERY BIG fish out there. If you get lucky enough to hook up to a fish that you just can't stop don't hesitate to call out on the radio for help. We need to put one of these monsters on the dock if it takes everybody working together to do it. We're standing by on channel 11. While these fish are certainly above average for our typical tuna you just never know when your number might get called. I'm taking tomorrow off but the OIFC team will be on the water searching for Cat Fish Hunter. Hopefully we'll have a monster tuna strung up on the dock tomorrow afternoon.

Capt. Squid took a few pictures of us doing work on the sea monster that he will be posting directly.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

I just got off the phone with Capt. Brant who opted for a kingfish attack today near the Frying Pan tower. He reported they were so hungry that the props on the engines had teeth marks in them. They are using dead cigar minnows for bait and absolutely tearing them up. Most fish have been between 12 and 15 lbs but he said they've caught about 10 fish over 23lbs and released one right at 40lbs. A good game plan for this time of year is to target the giant bluefins in the morning and then go after the kingfish for the mid day and maybe hit the bluefin again on the way in during the evening time. We have plenty of boxed cigar minnows here at the Fishing Center so stop by and will get you set up and point you in the right direction.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

The word on the tuna is that the bounty is still up for this week. $500 will be awarded to the first bluefin tuna brought to the Ocean Isle Fishing Center that measures over 54". The weather looks perfect for this weekend so come on down and be a hero. As far as the latest whereabouts of the bluefins Capt. Roger has reported a very slow bite at Morehead City yesterday and today. The last good concentration of fish caught up that way was on Tuesday evening and were found well to the south of Morehead at New River Inlet. Hopefully this means they are moving this way. In addition on Tuesday I had a report from the horseshoe area where there were only a couple boats fishing for the bluefin and one of those boats had a triple but somehow all managed to escape. The latest report I had was from yesterday where a local fishermen had a double header bluefin at the horseshoe and captured one measuring around 60". This is a smaller bluefin but still is quite a fish. This fish was not brought into the Fishing Center so the bounty is still out there for someone to collect. We'll keep you updated as the reports come in. If you need any gear to go after the bluefins we have it in stock from braided line, to custom rods, reels, lures and horse ballyhoo.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

I've had the ShowTime in Morehead City for the past week and fishing has been decent. This week on Sat and Sun there was a good bite with 20-30 fish caught each day out of 100 or so boats fishing each day. We were starting to wonder, but our number finally got called on Sunday with a double header- we landed both Bluefin- an 81 incher and an 89 incher- quite the workout for myself, Capt. Jon Tennant and wife Amanda Tennant. I'm taking a few days off to regain my nerves and then I'm sure I'll go back to it. In talking with locals up there, many are gearing up to head this way by the end of the month or early Jan. as they feel the fish they are getting now will be here then-- we'll see.This weekend there was an 101 inch landed and 107 inch landed, which are fish over 600 pounds for sure-- real giants. This January could be very interesting.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Here's the picture of the Bluefin that was weighed in here on Saturday-- this was the first fish of the week, so it won the $500 Bounty-- the fish was 72 inches and approximately 200 pounds. It was caught a mile East of the Shark Hole. The crew was out of Holden Beach and fished aboard Capt. Brett Yaugers 26' Sea Pro- Monkey Jon- also on board were Chris Yauger, Jeff McDonald, and Jonathan Morton.

This AM I know of one Bluefin released from the Horseshoe area. That is the only call I got, but I'm sure there were probably more. The Morehead City bite has continued pretty good, albeit there are alot of boats fishing and odds aren't great. I look for those fish to move toward our area as time progresses.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Folks, you could skip a nickel all the way to Frying Pan Tower this morning. It is magnificant! For all of you back inland thinking it's winter or getting ready for winter; drop what you're doing! Mother nature has given us an amazing blessing and you need to get down here to the coast to show her proper respect. It appears there is almost a 10 day pattern of this same weather pattern, so this is no time to pretend it is winter. Warm days, cool nights, calm seas; that is what we are experiencing. And, add to that very co-operative fish, and you can see why we are sending out this appeal....we need help enjoying all this joy. Come on down! ASAP!

On the fish scene, the Bluefin didn't co-operate very well with us yesterday. We fished the Shark Hole, lots of good bait marks, but no bites. Did hear of one fish that came from the Horeshoe. Also, congrats to Capt Roger and Capt Jon on the Showtime who doubled up yesterday on 2 excellent Bluefins. Hopefully the Morehead fish are coming this week and with the stable weather pattern we are in, it should happen.

As to a game plan for the Bluefin deal, we hit at them early starting at daylight, and if it hasn't happened by 11:00 it's time to change the game plan and work on the frying pan. The best sea bass fishing of the year is in the winter, and they will be on any of the rocks from a couple miles out and beyond. The Kings are thick in the Tower area. You can use dead cigars, or go to the Tower and jig up live bait. The grouper are still in the 80-100 foot water, and although I don't have a up to date gulf stream report, there should be wahoo on the break.

Bottom line, it's a glorious time to be here at the coast and a terrible time to be chopping firewood.

Name:*

Email:*

Comment:*

e 12/30/2013

Capt. Roger and Capt. Jon drew first blood today, landing an 89 inch bluefin tuna, along with an 81 incher to boot. They were fishing out of Morehead City on the Showtime. There were also a few bites locally this morning in the vicinity of the Horseshoe and the Shark Hole. Get your reels spooled and ready, things are starting to heat up... Let's go fishing!